The City and Borough of Juneau encourages the construction of canopies and awnings on the front facades of structures to protect pedestrians from the elements. Through the Historic District Design Standards located in Title 4, canopies are allowed to encroach into public rights-of-way in the Downtown Historic District; however, no mechanism currently exists in either Title 49, the Land Use Code, or Title 62, Public Ways and Property, to allow canopies or awnings to encroach into public rights-of-way or pedestrian ways outside of this district. The intent of proposed Ordinance 2007-11 is to provide a simple mechanism to allow such encroachments boroughwide.
I recommend this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular meeting.

This ordinance would modify the Fee in Lieu of Parking Program to provide finite payment terms. The original program was adopted by Ordinance 2006-33(am). The payment provisions included in the original ordinance were intended to follow what is done for Local Improvement Districts (LIDs). However, LIDs require additional resolutions to set the payment terms. It has been determined that setting the terms by resolution for each individual electing to use the Fee in Lieu of Parking Program would be impractical. As such, this ordinance would impose specific terms for the Fee in Lieu of Parking Program. The payment terms would be set at 10 years and the term interest rate would be set at one percent greater than the prime rate. The amounts would be billed with the annual property taxes and subject to the same late payment penalty and interest charges.

I recommend this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular meeting.

This ordinance would create LID No. 94 for the purpose of roadway reconstruction, consisting of asphalt paving, curb, gutter, sidewalk, underground storm drainage and improvements to the Water and Sewer Systems. The project area encompasses West Ninth Street from the south side of Egan Drive to the City Shop (adjacent to the Juneau-Douglas bridge).

The proposed assessment per lot is outlined in the Assessment Roll. An informal poll of the property owners in this LID area was conducted. Out of a total of 19 property owners, 12 responses were received. The property owners voting in favor represent $66,899 of the assessment, and those voting against represent $20,107. The total value of the property assessments is $135,068.

A notice was published in the newspaper and sent to the residents in the LID area providing the property owners the opportunity to share their views with the Assembly at a public hearing for this ordinance on April 23, 2007.

At the hearing the Assembly shall hear objections from any owner affected by the formation of the district and may make changes in the proposed boundaries or in the plans for the proposed improvements. The Assembly may not change the boundaries of the district to include property not previously included without first giving new notice to owners in the manner and form and within the time provided for the original notice.

I recommend this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular meeting.

The Board of Directors of Bartlett Regional Hospital adopted a “Tobacco-free Campus” policy at its meeting on December 19, 2006. The policy, which will take effect on June 1, 2007, prohibits all smoking and use of smokeless tobacco products anywhere on the Hospital campus, including the parking areas and the streets and sidewalks adjacent to the Hospital buildings. The Board adopted the policy in an effort to further reduce the health risks related to the use of tobacco products and the possible adverse effects on patient care and treatment.

The Bartlett House, the Juneau Medical Center, and Wildflower Court have all requested that their facilities and parking areas be included in the “Hospital Tobacco-free Campus.” Wildflower Court has identified five pavilion areas, accessible only from within the facility, which should be excluded from the Tobacco-free Campus.

This ordinance expands the smoking ban ordinance to include the “Hospital Tobacco-free Campus” as defined and as shown on Exhibit A to the ordinance. It also expands prohibited activity on the Campus to include the use of smokeless tobacco products. Violation of this ordinance would be an infraction punishable by a fine of $50.00 per the health and sanitation fine schedule in CBJ 03.30.053. If adopted, this ordinance will become effective on June 1, 2007.

I recommend this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular meeting.

This non-code ordinance would extend the expiration date of the conditional use permit granted by the CBJ Planning Commission to Totem Creek, Inc., for the golf course proposal on CBJ property in North Douglas. Without this ordinance the permit is due to expire in September, 2007. This would extend the expiration date to 2010 to make it concurrent with financial milestones established in Totem Creek's lease of the CBJ property, by which time the non-profit corporation is required to have its financing package in place.

I recommend this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular meeting.

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) has received another grant from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT/PF) to continue a model Therapeutic Court for District I. A Therapeutic Court is a court given the responsibility of supervising alcohol or drug abusing offenders placed in an intensive, closely monitored, treatment program. The grant includes funding for the City public defender and prosecutor to participate in the handling of city cases for the Juneau Therapeutic Court.

This appropriation provides funding for CBJ to participate in the third year of the program. The grant allows for a 15% administrative cost recovery and does not require matching funds.

I recommend this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular meeting.

The $200,000 request would fund the construction of the water system on Randall Road. This is the last remaining component of the Tee Harbor Water extension that began construction north from Lena Loop in 1994.

The $177,912 request would provide needed funding for the Auke Bay project. Staff recommends that any future interest earnings from this bond should be appropriated to Harbor projects.

The Public Works and Facilities Committee recommended this appropriation at its January 8, 2007 meeting.

I recommend this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular meeting.

This action would appropriate $36,400 from the State of Alaska Department of Military and Veteran’s Affiars Disaster Assistance Program as reimbursement for expenses incurred to repair flood damage to the Last Chance Mine pedestrian walkway and access road during the 2005 Fall storm.

Risk Management paid for these expenditures initially. These funds would go back into the Risk Management fund.

I recommend this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular meeting.

This ordinance would appropriate from the Sales Tax Budget Reserve $25,000 to partially fund the June 12, 2007 special election. The $25,000 would be combined with $10,000 available in the Clerk’s Office budget to provide necessary funding for the June special election, estimated to cost $35,000.

This funding recommendation was approved by the Assembly Finance Committee on March 14, 2007.

I recommend this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular meeting.

This ordinance would appropriate from the Manager’s Contingency Budget $2,500 to partially fund voter information for the June 12, 2007 special election. The $2,500 would be combined with $3,800 available in the Voter Information budget line item in the Manager’s Office budget to provide the funding for the $6,300 estimated cost of the printing and mailing the voter information for the special election. This ordinance is required for compliance with APOC regulations.

I recommend this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular meeting.

This ordinance appropriates $19,600 of earnings from the Jensen-Olson Arboretum Endowment Fund for Fiscal Year 2007 operations. Expenses include $13,500 for staffing and $6,100 for utilities, tools, supplies, etc.

The Jensen-Olson Arboretum was deeded to the City & Borough as a living trust, and sits between the Glacier Highway and Favorite Channel at Pearl Harbor, just north of the Shrine of St. Therese.

I recommend this ordinance be introduced and set for public hearing at the next regular meeting.

The Division of Lands and Resources received a request for a private utility easement on a portion of CBJ property, to facilitate a fiber optic cable landing. The easement is requested along the north property line of the JD Wastewater Treatment Facility, and continues out onto municipal tidelands. The other landing site is on Douglas Island, north of the harbor, on property managed by CBJ Docks & Harbors. The Harbor Board reviewed and approved this request at its January 25, 2007 meeting.

Per the easement review process established in CBJ 53.09.300, the request has been circulated through the Public Works Department for comment. The Assembly Lands Committee, Docks and Harbors Board, and the Planning Commission reviewed and recommended approval of the easements at their meetings on January 22, 2007, January 25, 2007, and February 27, 2007, respectively.

This resolution urges the parties to the Kensington gold mine litigation to attempt to reach a settlement resolving the litigation. In addition, it offers CBJ help in reaching a negotiated or mediated settlement.

This resolution would express Assembly support for the proposed Alaska Housing Trust Fund proposal to the Alaska State Legislature. The purpose of the proposed Alaska Housing Trust Fund is to provide funding to address the needs of Alaska's homeless population.

This request moves $100,000 of Water Fund moneys from the Flow Meter Additions capital improvement project to a new project, Areawide Water Main Repairs.

CBJ Water Utilities has experienced a couple of major water main breaks in the last month. The breaks have occurred with Douglas Highway and North Douglas Highway. These have created the need for funding to repair the roadways after the Water Utility has completed the water main repair.

Due to the winter season, and the asphalt plants being closed, only temporary concrete or cold mix asphalt patches can be installed on the roadway. These will have to be removed and replaced in the spring with hot mix asphalt.

The Public Works and Facilities Committee approved this request at its February 26, 2007 meeting.

This request authorizes the transfer of $235,000 in Areawide Street Sales Tax from the Juneau Bridge Repair project to the Upper Lemon Creek Bridge project. Ordinance 2006-11(AB), approved in January 2007, transferred $470,000 from Lands Fund to the Impound Lot project. Half or $235,000 was to be repaid to the Lands Fund from Areawide Street Sales Tax as a loan. This transfer from Areawide Street Sales Tax to the Upper Lemon Creek Bridge project would satisfy the repayment to the Lands Fund loan.

The Public Works and Facilities Committee approved this request at its March 19, 2007 meeting.

In anticipation of construction work scheduled for next summer, Engineering staff have been working with the utility companies to relocate their utilities before the street widening work. One of the utility companies recently increased the estimate for their relocation by approximately $30,000.

This request would fund this increase in costs and allow this work to proceed ahead of the street reconstruction.

The Public Works and Facilities Committee approved this request at its March 19, 2007 meeting.

Bids were opened on the subject project on March 9, 2007. The bid protest period expired at 4:30 p.m. on March 13, 2007. Results of the bid opening are as linked:

The purpose of this bid is to establish a contract for the purchase and delivery of new banquet seating chairs (to include moving/storage carts) for the Centennial Hall Convention Center. This purchase will replace existing banquet seating chairs that are over 23 years old.

CBJ guarantees the purchase of 1,300 chairs. Depending on available budget at time of award, CBJ may order from the Contractor additional chairs at the unit price bid.

With the concurrence Wendie Marriott, Centennial Hall Facility Manager, the Purchasing Division recommends award of this bid to Mity-Lite, based on having the lowest responsive bid price in the amount of $128,401.00, based on Total Bid.

I recommend award of this contract to Mity-Lite, in the amount bid, for a total award of $128,401.

This ordinance would create a new code provision to allow for an election to be conducted by mail. In a by-mail election, every qualified registered voter is mailed a ballot, along with instructions on how to cast a vote and mail in the voted ballot. In a by-mail election, absentee voting is provided for by mail, by fax, in-person at absentee voting stations, and by personal representative, similar to a regular election. By-mail elections do not have walk-in precinct voting polls.

This ordinance was introduced on January 8, 2007. Following introduction, a special notice of public hearing regarding the proposed election code change ran in 6 editions of the Juneau Empire. Over 70 letters of explanation, with a copy of the ordinance, were mailed to neighborhood associations, minority group representatives (per DOJ), to long time election workers and interested groups such as the League of Women voters. A public hearing was held January 29, and the Assembly reviewed the three written comments received from the public. The Assembly at that time referred the matter to the Committee of the Whole.

The Committee of the Whole reviewed this ordinance on March 19 and made two amendments, which appear in Version (c). The first amendment is that the determination of when a by-mail election method is chosen is the decision of the Assembly’s, by motion. The second amendment is that the effective date of the ordinance would be July 1, 2007, to clarify that this option of voting would not be a choice for the proposed June 12, 2007 special election.

Due to the strong odors created from septic tanks and unmaintained treatment plants, the Sewer Code requires that all customers being served by the sewer collection system decommission old septic tanks or treatment plants within 90 days of connection to the centralized collection/treatment system. Odor control is an ongoing priority of the Wastewater Utility and the community.

Decommissioning a tank involves removing motors, lights and hardware, removal of the tank lid, and filling the tank with sand. The new sewer service pipe is typically extended straight through the old treatment tank.

This ordinance would also clarify the code pertaining to preliminary treatment so that preliminary treatment cannot be used as a justification not to decommission private on-site septic tanks or treatment plants.

The Public Works and Facilities Committee passed a motion of support for the ordinance at its February 5, 2007 regular meeting.

This ordinance would amend the CBJ’s Land Use Code to create a new class of small “Bungalow” lot subdivisions. The goal of this ordinance is to provide an incentive to build small, detached, single-family homes in areas served by municipal utilities. Special development restrictions would apply to Bungalow lots including a maximum net floor area of 1,000 square feet and a 300 square foot garage. In single-family residential zones, Bungalow lots could only be created in combination with full size lots that meet regular lot size requirements. In multifamily districts, Bungalow lots could be platted at densities similar to common-wall construction.

The Planning Commission recommended approval of the Bungalow Housing ordinance at its February 13, 2007 meeting.

This ordinance would authorize placing on the June 12, 2007 special election ballot the question of issuing $11,180,000 in general obligation bonds for paying a portion of the cost of constructing and equipping the Thunder Mountain High School including the completion of constructing and equipping an Auditorium. The $11,180,000 would be combined with $54 million in bonding approved in October 2004 along with other funding appropriated to the project.

The project qualifies for 70% State reimbursement under the State’s School Construction Bond Debt Reimbursement Program. If the State fully funds the reimbursement program, the total annual debt service after State reimbursement, assuming an interest rate of 4.38% and full State funding, would be $310,000. The City and Borough expects to pay 90% or $280,000 of the estimated $310,000 in annual debt service from sales taxes previously identified for School District capital project. The remaining 10% of the debt service would require an annual property tax levy of less than $1 per $100,000 of assessed value. If no sales tax was used to pay annual debt service, the debt service would require an annual property tax levy of $7.70 per $100,000 of assessed value.

The Assembly Committee of the Whole approved a motion, on February 28, 2007, to forward this bonding proposal to the Assembly for action.

This ordinance would authorize placing on the June 12, 2007 special election ballot the question of issuing $4,500,000 in general obligation bonds to pay for Safety Improvements to Riverside Drive at Thunder Mountain High School.

The Engineering department is currently working with the State Department of Education and Early Development to determine if these bonds will qualify for 70% State reimbursement under the State’s School Construction Bond Debt Reimbursement Program. If the bonds qualify for State reimbursement, the total annual debt service after State reimbursement, assuming an interest rate of 4.2%, would be $168,000. This amount of debt service would require an annual tax levy of $4.20 per $100,000 of assessed value.

The Assembly Committee of the Whole approved a motion, on February 28, 2007, to forward this bonding proposal to the Assembly for action.

This ordinance would authorize placing on the June 12, 2007 special election ballot the question of issuing $5,000,000 in general obligation bonds to pay for an artificial turf field and running track at Thunder Mountain High School.

The project qualifies for 70% State reimbursement under the State’s School Construction Bond Debt Reimbursement Program. If the State fully funds the reimbursement program, the total annual debt service after State reimbursement, assuming an interest rate of 4.2%, will be $187,000. This amount of debt service would require an annual tax levy of $4.70 per $100,000 of assessed value.

The Assembly Committee of the Whole approved a motion, on February 28, 2007, to forward this bonding proposal to the Assembly for action.

This ordinance would authorize placing on the June 12, 2007 special election ballot the question of issuing $920,000 in general obligation bonds for paying a portion of the cost of equipping the Thunder Mountain High School. The $920,000 would be combined with $54 million in bonding approved in October 2004 along with other funding appropriated to the project.

The project qualifies for 70% State reimbursement under the State’s School Construction Bond Debt Reimbursement Program. If the State fully funds the reimbursement program, the total annual debt service after State reimbursement, assuming an interest rate of 4.38% and full State funding, would be $25,500. The City and Borough expects to pay all of the estimated annual debt service from sales taxes previously identified for School District capital projects. If no sales tax was used to pay annual debt service, the debt service would require an annual property tax levy of $0.64 per $100,000 of assessed value.

A conceptual subdivision development plan was prepared for Hill 560 (aka Peterson Hill) in 2001. The plan considers development of 575 acres of property owned by the University of Alaska and CBJ. Access routes to the area are proposed from Glacier Highway and the Back Loop Road.

The topography and alignment of access corridors on the Back Loop Road are particularly challenging. CBJ Engineering and Lands staff have conducted alignment, site and slope analysis for each of the potential access points along this section of the Back Loop Road. A recent minor subdivision (10/06) has created a vacant parcel, Lot 3, Bonnie Subdivision, near the crest of Goat Hill, which provides a preferable access alignment for the future development of Hill 560.

The property owner and CBJ signed an earnest money agreement for acquisition of the property at a price determined to be fair market value, $177,611. The terms of the sales agreement require the Assembly’s approval of an appropriation ordinance by April 2, 2007. Funding for the acquisition will be paid from the Lands Fund balance. The Lands Committee recommended this acquisition at its January 22, 2007 meeting.

Note: Agenda packets are available for review at the Juneau Municipal Libraries and online at www.juneau.org.

ADA Accommodations Available Upon Request: Please contact the Clerk’s office 72 hours prior to any meeting so arrangements can be made to have a sign language interpreter present or an audiotape containing the Assembly’s agenda made available. The Clerk’s office telephone number is 586-5278, TDD 586-5351, e-mail: city_clerk@ci.juneau.ak.us.